How Much Longer the Second Rak‘a May Be than the First

Question

The imams of some mosques recite only one or two long verses in the first rak‘a, and in the second rak‘a a sura of ten or fifteen verses, for example “al-Duha”, “al-Tariq” and the like. How is reciting in this way? What should the number of letters of the verses [of the second rak‘a] be in relation to the number of letters of the first rak‘a?

Answer

In such a case, let them count the letters and see: if the number of letters by which the second rak‘a exceeds [the first] is more than half of the sura of the first rak‘a, it is makruh.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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